JOHN HEITINGA has warned struggling QPR that Everton will be just as desperate for victory when the sides meet on Saturday.

The Londoners are adrift in the relegation mire after being dramatically pegged back by Wigan in their high-stakes clash at Loftus Road on Sunday.

It means the pressure will be cranked up even further on Harry Redknapp’s men to get a result at Goodison at the weekend, but Heitinga insists the Toffees will match their intensity as they bid to stay in contention for a top four finish.

He said: “I think we’ve got the same desperation as QPR. It won’t be an easy match. I remember the game at their place was tough as well.

“Everyone thinks it’s easy and you’ll win 4-0 but that’s not the way football is at the moment. They will come to defend.

“At White Hart Lane it was Tottenham who made most of the game and on Saturday it’s up to us to make the game.

“We don’t have the biggest squad but if you see our performances over the whole season they’ve been really good and with seven games to play we’re still in the hunt. We know we must beat QPR to fight for a European place though.”

Heitinga started his fourth consecutive game in Sunday’s impressive 2-2 draw with Spurs, and recent performances have suggested he is over the dramatic slump in form before Christmas which left question marks over his future on Merseyside.

Indeed the 29-year-old Dutch international has recently been praised for his mental strength by David Moyes, although he accepts that being left out of the team at the start of the season was hard to swallow.

“I’ve been playing for a long time now and in football you can go from hero to zero and back again,” said the man who was voted the club’s player of the season last term.

“At the beginning of the season I was thinking I should start but the manager decided something else and so I was a little bit disappointed.

“Then after that I wasn’t playing my best football so it was easy for the manager to put me on the bench.

“The only thing I could do was work hard. In the end the quality is always there but when you work hard it comes out.”

Heitinga was deployed in central midfield in Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini’s absence, and played a key role.

He said: “It was a long time ago since I last played in midfield. It was a good game. A hard game.”